CHECK OUT BLOGS ABOUT EARLIER MASTER'S THESES

MASTER'S THESIS TOPICS FOR spring 2022

• Building innovation capacity through partnerships

  Building innovation capacity through partnerships

  Fundamental changes in the external environment; technological development, increased focus on sustainability, changing demographics etc., put high demands on well-established firms and public entities to develop innovation capacity. Increasingly, firms and public entities realize they need to open up and enter into partnerships or take an active role in their business ecosystem to be able to transform their organizations in time. This research project seeks to explore innovative partnerships and ecosystems in three different streams:

  (1) study how public entities collaborate with private firms to innovate,

  (2) study multi-collaboration partnerships in developing new and innovative value propositions, and

  (3) study how an incumbent firm (BKK) can transform its innovative capabilities through partnerships.

  Contact person: Christine Meyer 

• Effective Teams

  Effective Teams

  Teams are often used to ensure efficient deliveries and sharing of highly specialized knowledge. However, globalization and modern technology imply increasing reliance on more “dynamic” and agile forms of cooperation. What makes teams work effectively in these settings? For example, how do relationships between team members form and develop over time, and how can leaders facilitate for trust and a psychological safe work climate?

  Contact person: Therese E. Svedrup

• HR in Digital Times

  HR in Digital Times

  Technological changes, such as digitalisation, may influence the organisation of work in profound ways. Digitalisation may replace work tasks and create demands for new skills. Furthermore, it may allow new ways to recruit, control, and reward employees. We want to address how technological changes affect the organisation of work, including digitalisation of HR activities and the use of HR-analytics.

  Contact person: Karen Modesta Olsen 

• Leadership Drivers of firm innovation and performance

  Leadership Drivers of firm innovation and performance

  A company’s mission has the potential to engage employees in the pursuit of goals and outcomes. We want to examine leadership drivers that engage employees in innovative behaviors and performance at the workplace. Especially when leadership unfold in a combination of physical and digital work or home context. We have collected survey data, and we are interested in supervising master students that could help us analyze the data.

  Contact person: Alexander M. Sandvik 

• Managing Radical Change and Innovation through Ambidexterity and Agility

  Managing Radical Change and Innovation through Ambidexterity and Agility

  Technological development requires that well-established firms innovate and renew their product/service offerings. One way to deal with this is to establish an ambidextrous organization, referring to a separate organizational unit with responsibility for innovations. An underlying premise is that the new unit develops distinct capabilities, processes and a separate identity. Another solution for renewal is to implement an agile organization aiming to increase the ability to quickly respond and adapt to unpredictable changes in the competitive market environment. The solution is depicted as non-hierarchical and as breaking down bureaucracy and organizational silos, however there is limited research-based evidence of the effectiveness of the agile organization. We are seeking master students who can assist in developing a series of case studies aiming to describe either the ambidextrous or the agile solution, analyze how these solutions can be effectively implemented, and the mechanisms through which they create capacity for change and innovation.

  Contact person: Inger G. Stensaker 

• What do Norwegian HR leaders do, and what do they want to do?

  What do Norwegian HR leaders do, and what do they want to do?

  The traditional view of managing human resources (HR) is that it embraces five broad interrelated tasks: the acquisition of human resources, human resource development, compensation, design of work systems, and labor relations. Further, HR leaders perform these tasks strategically – that is they are key players in realizing the strategy of the firm. But is this matched in practice? Or do Norwegian HR leaders in 2021 have a different set of priorities? Are any of these a product of the Covid-crisis? Are some of the traditional HR tasks outsourced? Are some of them delegated to line managers? Are Norwegian HR leaders part of the top leader team? Do they have the resources to be strategic? Is it the case that Norwegian HR leaders are still constrained by culture and unions so that Norwegian HR management (HRM) is distinctive from US HRM with its emphasis on bonuses and individual pay-for-performance? Is it the case that Norwegian HR leaders aim to forge a distinctively “collaborative” approach to HR rather than aiming to maximize individual employee performance? Possible sources of interview data: Telenor; DnB; Lærdal Medical and HR Norway. Thesis language: Preferably English as the thesis is part of a European project. 

  Contact person: Paul Gooderham

APPLICATION 

Please fill out the online application form to apply to the program, where you include grade transcripts and a brief application letter (max 1 page) with information about your background, motivation to study the topic(s) of interest, preliminary research questions, and date for thesis submission.

The application deadline is 15 October 2021.

Go to the application form

WHY SHOULD YOU CONSIDER?

• Your advisor will be very dedicated to the topic and your work. People will be waiting to hear the results (advisor, research team and industry people)
• We have established relationships with corporate partners and networks, so in most cases we can help you with access. Although not all topics require access. Sometimes you can write your thesis on existing data.
• You’ll become a part of a team. A team of researchers and a team of master students. We arrange meetings for you to network, and to challenge and support each other.
• You'll have access to up to NOK 10.000 per thesis for travelling and other expenses.